Thursday, July 31, 2014

Photos of World War One - Then and Now

UK real-estate website Rightmove has created an interesting interactive which allows you to compare historical photographs taken during World War I with the same view depicted today in Google Maps Street View.

Then + Now is a series of World War I photos superimposed on top of the same location on Street View. A slide control allows you to swipe back and forth to compare the World War I photo with the modern Street View. You can learn more about each of the historical photos depicted by clicking on the information button on each photo.

Getty photographer Peter Macdiarmid has also been using Street View to identify the locations of photographs taken in the First World War. After identifying the locations depicted in the photos Macdiarmid was able to visit the places in person and take a picture from roughly the same angle.

The Washington Post has published a collection of these photos. The Hallowed Ground of World War One, Then and Now superimposes the historical views on top of the modern photos captured by Macdiarmid. To reveal the modern view you need to mouse-over the photos to show the modern photo beneath.

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty has created a neat mapped visualization
which allows you to compare the 1914 map of Europe to the 2014 map of
Europe. Europe 1914 and 2014 allows
you to compare the two maps and view how the map of Europe has changed
dramatically over the last one hundred years. Swipe to the left to
reveal the 1914 map and swipe to the right to view the 2014 map.

As you swipe to reveal the 2014 map you can can say goodbye to the
German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian Empires and say hello to
Poland, Finland and a number of other new countries in Eastern Europe.